Louisiana College vs UMHB

In the final game of the 2016 regular season, the #2 ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders dominated the Wildcats front on both sides of the ball in route to a convincing 63-7 win to close out the season.  LC will finish the season with a 4-6 record and 1-5 in American Southwest Conference play.

The Wildcats found themselves behind early in the game after being forced to punt on their first possession to start the ball game, UMHB took the ball down the field 70 yards in five plays taking just 89 seconds off the clock and giving themselves a 7-0 lead just three minutes into the first quarter.  The Wildcats would catch a break on the Cru's next drive as fumble recovery by Anthony Hargrave gave LC the ball on the UMHB 31 yard line.  The Wildcats would only gain one yard before Easton Melancon was sacked on fourth down giving the ball back to the Cru. UMHB would score on the ensuing possession in just four plays covering 61 yards, most of the yardage coming on the 44-yard touchdown pass to receiver Bryce Wilkerson.

On the first play of the second quarter the Cru would extend their lead to three scores on an eight yard pass to the running back making it 21-0 UMHB just five seconds into the second frame.  The Wildcat defense would stop UMHB on their next possession on a fourth and short giving the ball back to the Wildcats at their own 45 yard line. LC would then go on their only scoring drive of the game.  Easton Melancon found Lawrence Williams and Lamar Carroway on 29 and 22 yard pass completions in the drive that was finished with an 11-yard scoring throw to Shedrick Davis to pull the Wildcats back within two scores at 21-7.

The momentum would not last long on the Wildcats sideline as DeNarian Thomas returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards to make the margin once again 21 points in favor of the home team. After the kick return LC would get the ball twice more in the half and the stifling Crusader defense would hold the Wildcats to 24 yards for the remaining seven minutes. On the other side of the coin, UMHB would score two more touchdown after the kickoff return for a 28 point second quarter and a 42-7 halftime lead.

The second half would be more quality play from the Crusaders as they would score three more touchdowns in the third quarter on three out of four possession in the frame, with the fourth ending with a missed field goal attempt. The best two drives of the second half for the Wildcats would be their first of the half and their final of the game.  Those two possessions covered a total of 105 yards while the other four drives of the half produced only five total yards.

Senior quarterback Easton Melancon finished the game with 332 passing yards on 32 or 54 attempts with one touchdown and two interceptions. The total brought Easton over the 3,000 yard passing mark for the season, a career first, and pushed him over the 10,000 yard passing number for his career, just the second time in LC history for a quarterback to reach that mark. Aurren Cooksey finished the game with 14 total yards on the day, falling just six yards shy of back to back 1,000 yard rushing seasons. Lamar Carroway and Shedrick Davis both caught nine passes in the game with Carroway going over 100 yards receiving for fourth time this season.